August 26, 2012

I might
be overdoing it with the desserts this summer; it feels like I don’t know
anything else but sweet delights.Still,
who can resist so much ripeness and aromas, and ultimately so much fresh fruit
left and right?I know I can’t, and I
want to take full advantage while they last.And besides, there are so many different and versatile desserts to create.
Today, I have a tart for you – a Lemon-Berry
Tart.

Have
I told you that my parents-in-law are visiting us these days?Yep…for a short while.So, here’s my dilemma.When we have visitors I usually prefer to cook
or bake things that I’ve already perfected or at least I’m familiar with; I
don’t like stepping into unfamiliar territory and start experimenting.But my mother-in-law is all about the innovative,
the different and the odd. She wanted me
to cook something new and she insisted on being my guinea pig.Needless to say I was terrified.My brain froze.My entire world came to a halt.The guinea pig job belongs to Adrian – he’s
my first taster and the one who first criticizes the new recipes!But who can argue with the
mother-in-law?So, I said a quick prayer
and went for it.

I
had some extra berries leftover from yet another one of these.And I really loved how the raspberries and
blackberries turned out in the Plum-Berry Upside-Down Cake, so I thought that they might also work beautifully in
this Lemon-Berry Tart.And they did.The tart was stunning – a glossy canary yellow lemon-flavored custard with
the consistency of crystallized honey, dotted with red and dark berries, and defined
by a thin mildly sweet crust.Dreamy…

There was some extra custard, which didn’t make it into the tart but made it into a
ramekin and went into the oven next to the bubbling tart. When we took a bite from the tiny ramekin, it
was like savoring a lemon crème brulee – heavenly!

When
the tart came out, we were mesmerized.Both
my mother-in-law and I kept staring at it, hesitating to dive the knife in it
and disturbing the perfection in front of us.But we couldn’t contain our excitement and had to taste it!The tart was so elegant, so delicate, and oh so
lemony.Sweet and sinful in one
spoonful.The tart passed the test and
so did I.

Lemon-Berry Tart

Adapted
from Our Best DessertsMagazine (Spring 2012)

Serves:
8-9 servings

The
recipe calls for a 9-inch pie plate; I didn’t have that (but I’m planning on
getting one, soon), so I used my 10-inch tart plate and it worked out perfectly.

Ingredients for the Sweet Butter Pastry:

·1 cup all-purpose flour

·3 Tablespoons sugar

·¼ teaspoon salt

·¼ cup cold butter

Ingredients for the Custard:

·3 eggs, at room temperature

·2 egg whites, at room temperature

·¾ cup sugar

·1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·¼ cup grated lemon zest (set aside)

·¾ cup fresh lemon juice

·¼ cup butter, melted

·1 cup fresh raspberries

·1 cup fresh blackberries

Instructions for the Sweet Butter Pastry:

Preheat
oven to 400°F.

In a
medium bowl, stir together the flour, the sugar and the salt.Put the ingredients in a food processor and
add the cold butter.Pulse the
ingredients together until the pieces of butter are pea size.Transfer the mixture to the bowl and sprinkle
1 Tablespoon cold water over part of the mixture; toss gently with a fork.Push moistened dough to side of bowl.Repeat with additional cold water, 1 Tablespoon
at a time (4 to 5 Tablespoons in total), until all of the flour and butter
mixture is moistened.Shape into a
ball.

On a
lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough.Roll dough from center to edge into a 12-inch
circle.Wrap pastry around rolling pin;
unroll into a 9-inch tart or pie plate.Ease pastry into tart or pie plate without stretching it.Trim pastry to ½ inch beyond edge of tart or
pie plate.Fold under extra pastry.Crimp edge as desired.Prick bottom and side of pastry with a
fork.Line pastry with double thickness
of foil.Bake for 8 minutes.Remove foil.Bake for 5 to 6 minutes more or until pastry is golden.Cool on a wire rack.

Reduce
oven temperature to 350°F.

Instructions for the Custard:

In a
large bowl, combine eggs, egg whites, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon
juice.Beat with an electric mixer on
medium to high speed until thicker and lemon colored.Stir in melted butter and lemon zest.

Place
raspberries and blackberries in bottom of backed pastry shell.Pour lemon mixture over berries.Bake about 30-35 minutes or until lemon
mixture is set.Cool on a wire rack.

August 12, 2012

A
good while back I revived the German influences in our Romanian cuisine with
one of my favorite sweet treats – Vanilla Pudding Apple Torte.This bold and buttery
cake that gets a regal touch from the warm and smooth vanilla pudding topping
is so reminiscent of my childhood and the rugged sights of my old Transylvania.One bite and all those vivid memories are
back.I was daydreaming about it this
past week; but strangely enough, I’m still meandering amid ripe stone fruits
and luscious berries.And this time I
wanted something along those lines.So,
I took out my Bon Appétit Desserts
tome and I found the perfect candidate – Plum-Berry
Upside-Down Cake.And just like that,
I was in for a party; a party of flavors and a colorful visual; all in an
upside-down cake.

In
my previous entry, I told you how desperate I was for some glossy red currants
and how scarce they were around here.But…
wait for it, wait for… miracles do happen and today, these currants have made
it into my kitchen… at least in a picture format.Yes, I know, still pretty disappointing.These are the exact currants that I pick
every summer in my 92 year-old great-grandmother’s backyard.Unfortunately, this year I missed our currant
picking ritual and especially the currant picking contest against my
great-grandmother.I didn’t get the
chance to be faster at currant picking and finally defeat her.Truth be told, I’m never faster than my
great-grandmother; maybe next year…

Although
some currants would have worked beautifully in this upside-down cake, they’re
not mandatory.This cake is just drop
dead gorgeous without them and one hundred percent delectable!It was the first time I had made this cake,
and to be quite frank I wasn’t sure what to expect; but somehow I knew
that if you add crimson plums, scarlet raspberries, and dark blackberries, you will
create something great.And I was right.As it turns out, stone fruits and berries
complement each other really well; and not just in color but also in taste!

After
a ride in the oven, the transformation is evident: the fruits become soft; the
plums go from piquant and slippery to sweet and slipperier; the berries release
their deep colors; they all blend in with each other, eat up the buttery brown
sugar syrup that a moment ago they were comfortably lounging in, and sink into
the dense and fragrant dough.The
lustrous top is still thriving, though.

The
taste?Definitely tasty.It sort of goes from sweet to tart and back
to sweet, emphasizing a distinct undertone of warm and spicy cinnamon, which
also gives a discrete darker hue to the springy dough.

The
most exciting part?Presenting the cake on
a beautiful platter.Ironically, this is
not an apple tart (obviously), but that doesn’t make it less entitled to be
displayed on this pretty French tart platter.After all, I was thinking of an apple torte before I baked this
cake.

Cake: Position rack in
center of oven and preheat to 350°F.Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.Beat butter in another medium bowl until
smooth.Gradually add sugar to butter
and beat until well combined.Add eggs 1
at a time, beating well after each addition.Beat in vanilla extract.Stir dry
ingredients and milk alternatively into butter mixture, beginning and ending
with dry ingredients.Spoon batter over
topping in pan.

Bake
cake until top is golden and firm and tester inserted into center comes out
clean, about 60 minutes.Let stand 10
minutes.Run small sharp knife around
pan sides to loosen cake.Place platter
over pan.Using oven mitts or pot
holders as aid, firmly grasp pan and platter together, then turn over.Let stand 3 minutes, then gently lift pan off
cake.Serve warm or at room temperature
with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

August 3, 2012

We’re
switching gears a bit from all those juicy fragrant peaches, plums, apricots,
and their stone fruit companions, and we’re putting berries under the magnifying
glass… yet, my fruit bowl is still overflowing with peaches and plums as I’m
typing these words, and they are winking at me for attention.If I’m not happily munching some of these
peaches in the next ten minutes, they’ll most likely end up in yet another
baked concoction in the next day or two.Have I mentioned that I’ve been baking a lot with stone fruits,
lately?Yep… I think I have.

So, bring
out the berries; I’m in the mood for a fool… a berry fool that is.The
initial recipe, which got me so inspired, asked for blueberries.Well, tough luck!Blueberries don’t really sing to me; we don’t
get along as we should.For me they’re
sort of… faint.They just need that extra zing and enthusiasm and pop of color from other berries to really shine.On their own, blueberries fall short; in the
company of other bold luscious berries, they flourish like there’s no tomorrow…
and then we get along just fine.

And so,
the original blueberry fool became a berry
fool with the generous help of some strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries;
pretty much any berry I could get my hands on.Of course, I didn’t leave out the blueberries.It would have been a crime!So, into the mix they went.Still, I desperately wanted to boost the
party with some currants, but these glossy red little suckers are so scarce
around here that if you find them they are worth an absolute fortune.

With
or without currants this berry fool
impressed me.It turned out to be a
light and frothy mousse flecked with tart bright berries.It was like air.Dunk a crackly pecan shortbread cookie in the
fool and you’ll get that much deserved crunchy bite; a hefty dollop of toasted
sliced almonds, or walnuts, or hazelnuts or whatever you have lounging around
will also do the trick.With this berry
fool, you can relish a cool dessert, tonight; put an extra one in the fridge
and tomorrow morning you’ll enjoy an invigorating breakfast!

1.Make
the berry sauce:Heat 1 ½ cups berries,
the granulated sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until
bubbling.Reduce the heat to medium-low
and cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries are soft, about 5-7
minutes.Stir in the grated lemon zest
and juice.Remove from the heat.Stir in the remaining ½ cup berries and let
mixture cool to room temperature.

2.Using
an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream with the confectioners’ sugar and
vanilla extract in a bowl until soft peaks begin to form.Gently fold all but 1/3 cup of the berry
sauce into the whipped cream.Divide
among glasses and top with the remaining berry sauce.Serve with cookies or sprinkle the toasted
sliced almonds on top.